Fly-trap



'UNITED srarns PATENT cerros.

S. ARNOLD, OF GREEN HILL, TENNESSEE;

FLY-TRAP.

Specification of Letters Patent No.,15,752, dated September 23, 1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL ARNOLD, of Green Hill, in the county ofVilson and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Fly-Catchers; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being hadto the accomf panying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhichi Figure l is a vertical central section, and Fig. 2 a horizontalsection, of a fly catcher constructed after my invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the twofigures.

The nature of my invention consists in the employment of a revolvingperforated hollow cylinder, provided with a reticulated rising andfalling piston, over a hemispherical or other shaped hollow glassvessel, said cylinder serving for entrapping the flies, being grooved onits inner periphery and coated with some condiment attractive to iies,and the glass vessel being filled with soap suds and serving by itstransparency to attract the flies downward,` and the piston, as thecylinder revolves, falling automatically and forcing the flies down intothe soap suds in a manner to render it impossible for them to fly upagain into the cylinder.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is a frame consisting of two vertical standards a, al, a top crosstie b, and a circular flanged base c.

B, is a hemispherical hollow glass vessel set in the base c. It is openat its topd, and serves to contain soap suds for destroying the fliesafter being entrapped. It also serves, owing to its being transparent,for attracting the flies down into the soap suds.

C, is the hollow cylinder. It has a short journal el?, on its upper endand an opening e, in its bottom corresponding to the opening rl; saidopening being surrounded by a flanch f, which passes down into the neckof the glass vessel B, and serves as the lower journal and for combiningthe cylinder and vessel, so that they may communicate with each other,as shown.

g, g, are perforations in the periphery of the cylinder through whichthe flies enter in passing into the same.

L, it, are vertical grooves formed in the inner periphery of saidcylinder at points close to the perforations. These grooves servel forcontaining some condiment attractive to flies.

D, is a reticulated piston fitting loosely the bore of the cylinder C,and having its t rod passing up loosely through the short upper journald, Aof the cylinder. This pis ton is reticulated so as to meet with lessresistance from the air in the cylinder in its descent, and thuscounteract the tendency to force the flies, by the pressure of the air,out through the perforations. Itshould be noticed, as a matter ofimportance, that as the piston rises and falls it does not interferewith or scrape oif the condiment from the cylinder, owing to the samebeing confined in the grooves It, L.

z', is a shoulder on the rod of the piston and y', is a spring catchwhich falls under the same and holds the piston elevated as shown inblack.

7c, is a spring stop for effecting the release of the piston whendesirable. allows of the cylinder revolving while the piston is elevatedand is brought into operative position by being depressed by the, hand,as shown in red, and when thus depressed, as the cylinder revolves,comes in contact with a pin l, of the spring catch, and causes the sameto recede sufficiently far to effect the release and descent of thepiston. i

The top of the cylinder is removable, or may be divided so as to admitof a ready insertion of the condiment into the grooves. In order toremove the top conveniently the bearings are made in a manner that bypressing a spring m, the upper journal of the cylinder can be set freeand the cylinder taken off of the glass vessel and out of the frame.

Operation: The fly catcher properly baited is placed on the dining tableor in other place and let stand until a large number of iies haveentered the cylinder through the perforations, when some one around thetable gives the cylinder a twirl This stop j and then depresses thespring catch with Y the hand and thereby releases the piston and allowsit to descend. The flies by the twirling of the cylinder, descent of thepiston and the delusion caused by the greater light through thetransparent or glass vessel are caused to descend into the soap suds inthe glass Vessel and thereby vinstantaneously deprived of life.

This fly catcher s very simple and compact and may be made at a slightoost quite tasty and ornamentalyk enough in appearance to be placed on adining table While eating.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

l. The employment of the revolving per forated and grooved hollowVcylinder C, applied in connection With the retieulated piston D, andglass vessel B, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The arrangement for retaining the 15 piston elevated While the fliesare being entrapped, in Connection with the device for releasing it Whennecessary, substantially as Set forth.

SAMUEL ARNOLD.

Witnesses:

I. F. BUCKLEY, I. W. CooMBs.

